Band's Infinite Melodies
July 16, 2010On the eve of Band of Horses’ Australian tour, keyboardist Ryan Monroe tells Andrew Wallace Infinite Arms is their first true album ... and that The Drones rock.
For many, it’s a shock to discover 2010’s Infinite Arms is just the third LP from South Carolina’s Band of Horses. Identified by the beautifully haunting, at times uplifting vocals of Ben Bridwell, the group shines with a mature grandiosity beyond their six-year lifespan. Or could it just be the facial hair?
With Bridwell secluding himself in a cabin in the Minnesota woods to pen several tracks, the new album bears (no pun intended) an underlying modern country feel. History also plays its part: On My Way Back Home’s Brian Wilson vibe stems from being mixed in the same studio as the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, while the band’s love of Dinosaur Jr. surfaces in the guitar licks of Laredo.
According to Monroe, they are still evolving. Despite critical acclaim for earlier work – including Is There A Ghost and The Funeral – and ensuing cult status (MAG’s Peter Ryan nominated their 2006 Meredith Music Festival show in his top five gigs of the ’00s), Bridwell and co. consider Infinite Arms the first real Band of Horses album. “We’ve had the same five people for three years now,” says keyboardist Ryan Monroe. “It feels like we’ve become a really tight unit – for other records, Ben would bring in other people to jam, or our guitar player would play the bass parts. But for this record we actually have a bass player (Bill Reynolds) who’s the best, and Ben is open to any of us writing songs.”
A recent tour with Pearl Jam crystallised it all. “They showed us how it’s done; production, everything. Those fucking guys go out every night, sweat it up and play for three hours. Just when you think they’ve played all their hits, they rip out another.”
Band Crush Monroe is a huge fan of Australian blues/noise rockers The Drones. “Every time I think about going back there, I think about meeting up with those guys. They played with us in America; they are the coolest people and the best band on the fucking planet.”
Boss Watch “We were playing in Tennessee and got off stage, and the crowd was asking for one more,” says Monroe. “We look at the monitor, and we see fucking Bruce Springsteen sitting there. We were like, ‘we’d better play one more!’ So we kicked into Hungry Heart … just kidding. We met him afterwards, and he couldn’t have been cooler; he’s The Boss!”
Infinite Arms is out via Sony; tour runs July 22-31. Visit: bandofhorses.com
Listen to Ryan Monroe interview at musicaustraliaguide.com
